Tag: vegan

∴What you might experience going vegan∴

This year I will be 6 years old! Six years of being vegan that is 😉 And I’ve said this a million times that going vegan was the best decision I ever made. I’ve also said before, that the reason I initially went vegan was because I wanted to lose weight. I did lose weight…15lbs. But, I also experienced a few other things that a lot of fellow vegans don’t know or just failed to mention about what you may experience when going vegan.

Now this has been MY experience, and I am only sharing with you what you may experience based off of mine.

What you may experience going vegan include, but aren’t limited to these and are in no particular order:

SKIN ERUPTIONS.

MILD COLDS/SNIFFLES.

NAUSEA.

HEADACHES/DIZZINESS.

FEELING “WEAK” OR “SICK”.

BODY ODOR.

Now, I know all these may sound pretty intense. But what people fail to realize is that these are detox symptoms. These things are also more likely to happen if you go vegan “cold turkey” like I did. Your body is purging itself from all the dead flesh, toxins and build up that has accumulated over the years from eating animals and their by-products. So, you may see more pus-filled pimples; runny nose aka sniffles; increased body odor and sweating. Your body is literally going through an internal transformation that is manifesting externally.

A lot of people have told me, “oh I tried the vegan thing but it made me sick. My doctor told me to quit because it was making me anemic.” And what I tell them is, there is no such thing as going vegan making you sick. You are detoxing. That’s what you are experiencing, especially if you just went vegan a week or two ago. Like you haven’t even given yourself time to adjust. You have to think about how long were you eating animals, and how long it’s going to be before you fully adjust to eating a plant-based diet. The change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process.

One very important tidbit of information I would like to share is that it is very important to eat balanced, nutrient rich foods. Take a multivitamin that includes iron and b12. Drink at least 6-8 cups of water daily. And I promise you will be good to go forever on a plant-based regimen.

Aside from the detox symptoms I mentioned above, there are way more benefits for you going vegan that you will experience! I’ll share with you some of mine.

WEIGHT LOSS!

INCREASED ENERGY.

MENTAL CLARITY.

SPIRITUAL REAWAKENING!

HEAL QUICKER. IF I DO HAPPEN TO CATCH A BUG, BUT THAT IS VERY RARE. YOUR IMMUNITY TO THINGS GO WAY UP. ALMOST FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE SUPER POWERS! 🙂

ABLE TO BALANCE ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE BETTER.

There are so many more benefits to going vegan, not just for yourself but for the planet too. It has truly allowed me to sleep better a night knowing I did not cause harm, or contribute to the harm through purchase or eating of animals. I am confident in my decision. I have healed myself and my family living this way. And I don’t see myself ever going back because life is too good!

If you follow me on Instagram then you probably have seen photos of me traveling for the past 2 weeks! There was some highlights and some things not worth mentioning or things that I don’t want to re-live, like sitting on a plane for 5 hrs with a smelly baby in front of me the whole time :-/ Or, the spider that decided to crawl up next to me the first night in LA as I’m just beginning to doze off good. Just rude.

Anyway, during my travels I didn’t have a chance to update you guys like I planned to. And to be honest, it’s really not much to update ya’ll on because well…I wasn’t really doing too great on this weight loss journey thing.

I didn’t have a scale to weight myself, nor did I want one. I take that back…I did have a scale in the spa I went to one day while in Vegas. Let’s just say I was disappointed to see the number when I stood on it. Here I am thinking I worked out in the gym yesterday, then I sweated off a couple pounds in the sauna and steam room…I just knooooooow I lost a couple pounds. Nope! Ha!

So, I’m not sure if I should give ya’ll a recap of all the things I ate for the past 2 weeks or not. Just know that everything was plant-based of course, but not the healthiest. I’ll just give you a brief recap of my week in Vegas and then my week in LA.

Week 2 in las vegas

Activities:

Light walk at Red Rock Canyon

1hr workout at the gym that included treadmill, elliptical, various weight machines and leg lifts

Walking around the Spring Preserves for an hour in the sweltering heat

The only thing healthy that I ate were the mangos, vegetables on the side of meal or in the fried rice.

So this is what I mean by eating plant-based doesn’t mean you are eating healthy. Sweets and fried foods are horrible for your body, vegan or not. And this is why I’m on a weight loss journey, to train myself to make better decisions about what I eat.

Week 3 in california

Activities:

A 15-minute power walk in Beverly Hills because I didn’t want to be late for an appointment.

Meals:

2 pieces of cake

breakfast burrito and pan-fried potatoes

Burger and fries

Fried rice with tofu

Chips

Water and hemp milk for drinks

Beans and rice with tofu

Once again not making the best choices, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Because guess what? There is always to tomorrow, next week and next month to make better choices.

Current weight: I gained 3lbs back based on my scale at home

My plan for the coming weeks is to become consistent, and get back into controlling my portions and cutting out fried foods all together. My doctor in California told me to start drinking up to a gallon of water a day (I definitely don’t drink enough water), eat oatmeal in the morning, salads for lunch, berries for dinner and snack on nuts throughout the day; and watch the pounds fall off. And of course, maintain an active lifestyle of at least 30 minutes-1 hour of activity a day. Remember to take a day of rest so that the muscles can heal and the body can rebuild.

I hope this helps someone out there who is on their weight loss journey too, or thinking about starting their journey.

Peace & Balance Always!

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Go to my Instagram page to see photos of some of my meals and activities that I mentioned here in this post.

it doesn’t look like it in this picture, but i have a double chin & I weigh 206lbs, which is why i am beginning my weight loss journey.

I’ve never been a super skinny girl, but I’ve never been overweight either. My weight was never an issue for me until after I had my first child. I lost the “baby” weight without trying after my 1st child, then I got pregnant again but this time the weight didn’t come off. It stayed & stuck around. And I’ve been hovering between 188-205 for the past 5 years.

Weight loss is actually what sparked me to go vegan in the first place, initially. But after going vegan I learned so many things about myself, the animals, and the world among other things; that going back to eating meat will never happen. So lets be clear, I will never advocate eating animals, EVER.

what I will always advocate is loving yourself & being the best you & the healthiest you that you can be!

And so for that reason, I must lose weight. I love myself enough to know that I cannot continue to overeat and eat bad things no matter how vegan-friendly it is. Yes, you can gain weight as a vegan & yes you can be unhealthy as a vegan too. If you overindulge on the bread, the pasta, the cereals, pizza, cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, processed foods, etc; you will gain weight! It’s that simple. And if you do not exercise daily & you overeat, you will gain weight. Which is why I am here.

But, like one of my favorite quotes says:

When You Know Better, You Must Do Better.”

I know what I’ve been doing wrong, and now I must change. And if you’ve been following me on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or the Blog, then you know I’m all about CREATING THE LIFE YOU WANT. I must be the change if I want to see the change. And TODAY marks the 1st day of my Weight Loss Journey!

I reached out to one of my best friends, who is like a sister to me, and told her what was going on and how I felt. She told me she too had been feeling the exact same way. So we are embarking on this journey together! We will hold one another accountable by calling or texting daily, and asking what are you eating today and what are you doing for exercise today.

I’m taking it a step further by making this journey public on my social media & website. I’m hoping this will make me hold myself accountable because everyone else will be watching. I’m going to keep everyone updated daily or weekly on what I’ve been eating, drinking and doing for exercise.

The goal for me is to lose AT LEAST 35lbs of fat by 4/1/2018!

The plan is to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week. Those activities will include, but not be limited to: Yoga, Walking, Jogging, Swimming, Weight Lifting, Boot Camp, Bike Riding, Hiking, etc. My meal plan will be simple.

meal plan

PORTION CONTROL. This is my biggest challenge, so this is the most important for me. I will stick to 1 serving size for all food. This will help to keep me from overeating.

BE Realistic. DON’T BEAT MYSELF UP. For instance, I had a sandwich today. The bread was spelt bread (which is considered alkaline by Dr.Sebi), with 2 slices (1 serving size) of seitan bacon, 1 slice of Follow your heart cheese, tomato, red onion, lettuce, bell peppers, and 1Tbsp of Veganaise. No chips on the side like I normally would have. That in itself made me feel good, because I didn’t overindulge. It was controlled. The sugar content was super low & this will be the only piece of bread I will have today.

Look out for hidden sugars. I’m not talking about the natural sugars that are in fruits, although you gotta watch out for that too. Too much of anything can be bad for you. Even water. But look out for hidden sugars that are in things like cereal, oatmeal, bread, rice, noodles, crackers, and most packaged foods. Sugars turns into fat, which equals weight gain.

Take in fewer calories than I put out. You can’t expect to lose weight if you don’t exercise and eat like you are going to plow the fields for hours. LOL. Seriously, it’s all checks and balances. Take in less or about the same, but increase your exercise activity. Which is why I am going to be eating a serving size of all foods, and way smaller portions but working out 7 days a week.

every morning i will begin my day with meditation and prayer. a nice light stretch to get the juices flowing. then i will drink warm tea or lime water to break my fast.

I will keep a log of my meals & post what I ate during the week here on the blog, as well as what I have done for my daily exercise. I will also weigh in once a week, and document that here too. If you are interested in taking this journey with me let me know in the comments section below, and we will be accountability partners throughout this journey.

Because as we all know, sometimes it takes a village to achieve your goals.

Why You Should Unplug and Get Away…Often

Let’s face it, life is crazy busy! I mean we work, take care of the kids and/or pets, work, cook & clean, work, socialize with everybody at work/social media/school/neighbors, and then we work some more. Not to mention how disconnected we can become with our significant others because we do all these things, and by the end of it all we are just worn out! We are just too busy. So busy that we forget to unplug.

It’s become harder & harder to shut our minds off due to the plethora of information, images & to-do lists that run through our heads daily.

I mean meditation helps us significantly to unplug from everything & reconnect with ourselves, but it must be practiced often. (Read my article on How To Meditate). Yoga helps too, if you practice it. Keyword: if! (Check out my Youtube Channel for a few yoga videos to get you started). But these two practices alone won’t cut it. You must unplug AND reconnect with nature often.

Living near a beach has some amazing benefits if you’re one of the lucky ones that do. But if not, I recommend you travel to one & do it as often as your financial situation will allow. It not only will allow you to fully unwind and unplug, but you will be able to see amazing results emotionally, mentally and physically.

Benefits of living near the ocean or traveling to the beach:

♦ Reduce anxiety & depression

♦ Improve mood & boost libido

♦ Lower blood pressure

♦ Increase feelings of happiness, contentment, & gratitude

♦ Get you a dose of good old Vitamin D

♦ Connect to Mother Earth

All of these benefits come from the naturally occurring negative ions floating around in the air near the ocean. These are the benefits that are claimed can be achieved by having a sea salt lamp in your home. The science behind it is the same. But, of course the most natural and organic way is best. Get to ocean this Spring and/or Summer!

5 signs that it’s time to unplug & get away:

Irritability & depressed mood

Feeling out of balance

Sluggish & weakened immune system

Hating on other people for going on vacation, LOL!

Lacking creativity & mental clarity

Hope this helps & I hope you get a chance to unwind and unplug this Spring and Summer at the beach! Allow yourself the chance to reconnect with yourself & Mother Earth. I know I did last year and I plan on repeating it this year! Check out some of the pics from my holiday in South Florida last year for inspiration and good vibes. Peace.

With the seasons changing and the temps dropping you’ve got to ensure your immune system is ready. They call this the cold & flu season for a reason. One of the reasons being, the sun is setting earlier which means we aren’t getting as much sun exposure. The lack of sun affects our vitamin D levels, which is a huge component in staying well. Second reason, it’s colder and people are staying indoors with windows closed and dry heat pumping throughout the house. This means germs are confined, and mucous membranes are drying out due to the heat which lowers our natural defenses.

So I want to help prepare you by giving you 7 tips on how to stay well this season.

Take a multivitamin with a sufficient amount of vitamin C, B-12, Probiotics, vitamin D and immune boosting herbs like Echinacea, Bladderwrack, or Irish Sea Moss. I recommend Dr.Sebi’s Bio Ferro to keep your cells clean & healthy, which in turn will keep you clean & healthy!

Drink a whole lot of water!!!!!! At least 1 gallon. I know that’s a lot, but your body needs it to keep your lymphatic system flushed and mucous membranes moist to fight off any “intruders”. (I need to take my own advice with this one)

Do some type of exercise daily, at least 30 minutes a day.

Meditate/Pray daily. Spiritual health is just as important as physical if not more.

Wash your hands often. So basic, so simple.

Up your intake of raw fruits & veggies. Incorporating a daily salad is an easy way to do that. Fresh raw fruits and veggies maintain their nutrient dense content, as opposed to frozen or cooked. And eat what’s in season (greens, beans, roots like sweet potatoes and beets, cranberries, apples, pumpkin, nuts). Mother Nature knows & provides what our bodies need in order to thrive during any particular season.

Do these things and I promise you will have a happy healthy winter! Also, if you aren’t vegan, now is a great time to GO VEGAN!